Little Egret

Towards the end of our  visit to Arne last week we were in the hide looking out towards Poole Harbour, the pools in front of the hide were dried up and other than a few black headed gulls and a distant group of Sika deer there was very little about. I remarked that we had often had a Little Egret before in front of this hide.

We then made our way to Shipstal Point opposite Brownsea Island and as we stepped onto the shore line a Little Egret was busy feeding on small fish from the pools at the waters edge.

In fact it was so engrossed that it did not mind a couple of photographers (including me) and I was able to get some confiding shots. The light was gorgeous and bright and made for a good session. I took about 70 shots in 10 or 15 minutes and I am quite pleased with the results. I have photographed these birds a good few times now but I like these best. many shots had fish in the Egrets bill so the pickings seemed very good, only small fry mind, I would need a plateful!

On the water was a small group of Red Breasted Mergansers, top birds, I only managed a record shot of these.